Brendan McDaid

The sister of a Derry man who went missing at the weekend said she was praying to their late father to help return him as they searched along the banks of the River Foyle this evening.

Around 30 relatives and friends of Gary Campbell gathered at Sainsbury’s this afternoon as the tide went out.

Gary Campbell

They then split up into smaller groups to search along various stretches of the river’s edge and walkways.

At around the same time Foyle Search & Rescue were conducting their own separate, water-based search this evening.

Creggan native Gary (31) (pictured below) was last spotted on in the city centre in the early hours of Saturday morning, and police and his family have issued appeals for anyone with information to bring it forward.

Gary’s sister Sinead Cassidy, who was among those taking part in the search, told the Journal: “I am praying to my dad [Davy] he brings him back. I’ve been praying to him. My dad died eight years ago and Gary had tried to resuscitate him.”

Sinead said the whole family were extremely worried about Gary.

She said that CCTV footage has been retrieved by the PSNI which places her brother at the corner of Sackville Street at around 3am on Saturday morning.

It is understood other CCTV footage is now being examined to try to piece together his movements after this.

Describing her brother, Sinead said: “He is a happy-go-lucky fellow. He is well known, he loved his socialising and he is up for a laugh, up for anything.

“It is so out of his character to be gone this long,” she said, adding that many people had come forward expressing wishes to help find him.

When last seen, Gary was wearing black slippers, dark jeans, a black puffy heavy coat and a yellow, black and blue checked shirt. He also has ‘Mum’ and ‘Dad’ tattooed on either side of his neck.

Hundreds upon hundreds of people have shared the missing person appeal posted on Facebook over the past few days.

Police at Strand Road meanwhile have appealed for information regarding Gary’s whereabouts. PSNI Inspector Les Craig said, “I appeal to Gary or anyone who knows where he is or has been in contact with Gary to contact police at Strand Road on the non-emergency number 101.”